[Sled dog hotel]

Hi everyone,

We had our beloved cavachon puppy spayed on monday. She had her first heat a few months ago and we decided to get her spayed this week before she came into season again.

She came home feeling very sorry for herself and tired following the op but was soon back to her normal self around midnight that night! Since then she has been eating, drinking and going the toilet like normal with no problems. The only thing we are worried about is that she is doing a lot of panting and heavy breathing even when she has just been lying down not doing much, as well as whimpering and carrying toys around crying.

We took her back to the vets on wednesday and he assured us everything was ok. Her temperature was only slightly above normal, she was feeling no pain around the wound or in the abdominal area. He gave her a shot to lower her temp slightly and a shot of antibiotics.

Has anyone else came across this after a spay? Its been 5 days now but she is still doing a lot of panting and whimpering.

If you had just given her symptoms of being clingy whining and carrying toys around and panting etc they first thing I would think of in all honesty would be that she is having a phantom pregnancy. Is there any change to the size of her teats aswell that's normally another sign?

Also when did she finish the last season? Even though the season itself and the outward signs like the swelling vulva and discharge only last about three weeks or so, even when this is subsided hormone levels still remain elevated for 60 and even up to 90 days which is the time when most phantoms occur, that's why normally You usually wait about 12 weeks after a season before spaying to ensure hormone levels have gone back to normal and the reproductive tract is in a resting state again.
I'm pretty sure that I have read somewhere in the past that spaying a bitch when the progesterone levels are still high can in fact bring on a phantom pregnancy
Likewise if you spay too close to a season when again the progesterone levels are present and raised (progesterone is present in a canine season whether pregnant or not that's why you cant use it as a canine pregnancy test) then again the spayng and sudden removal of the hormones can cause a phantom pregnancy.

Bitches on average have about 2 seasons a year every 6 months but its not an exact science and some will like people have differences and considerable variations with seasons.

Only other thoughts how is the suture line and operation site, is there any signs of swelling above what you may expect, redness, discharge or oozing, or does it feel hot to the touch or hotter then the surrounding area anything like this may mean there is infection that may account for some of her behaviour perhaps, often with infection there is a raised temperature and with that you can get panting and some dogs can become clingy and whiney